CO-MIYAVI GERMANY

Freitag, 27. Dezember 2013

meanings of Miyavi's tattoos (english)

Excuse our "not the best - english", but we want to make it, that every international Comyv can read it!

On various fan sites Miyavi's tattoos have already been
analyzed and explained, but there are many pages also incomplete and the
newer ones wasn't added. Therefore, let us here make the effort for
you. Enjoy! :)Note: There may be still hidden little
errors. In addition, the meanings / translations are often difficult or
far interpretable- what it might mean for Miyavi, will probably be his
secret. But should you discover a little error or know something which
is missing, let us know!

JaME: Why are all your tattoos black?miyavi: All the other colours have been erased by the rain. (laugh) (JaME Interview 2006)JaME:Your tattoos are all black. Why don’t you have any in color? Or do you?miyavi: Actually, they are not designs. They are all messages. I think I might have some of my lyrics put on my body." (JaME Interview, 04/2009)

In Tattoo Tribal Magazine:

"My
tattoos aren’t really a collaboration with a tattoo artist, they’re
words and thoughts and symbols that are important to me. My skin takes
the place of a note book. [..] so one day I’d like to get some of my own
lyrics tattooed so they’ll become art. Because my lyrics are my way of
making a record of my life as I live it."

"I
think that my reasons for getting a tattoo are always really instinctive
like that. When something happens I can remember back to when I got a
certain tattoo, and kind of go back to the way I was at that time.”

"It’s
kind of weird, but as Japanese, people don't really ever get things
like ‘Ore’ or ‘Ware’ tattooed, you know?* The way that you always seen
foreigners with the kanji for ‘spirit’ or ‘friendship’ or somethig on
their arms. (LOL) But whether it comes to tattoos or music, I want to be
completely unique. Whether it’s my make up or my clothes or my guitar
playing, I want to make people go, “What is this? Is it rock? Is it
funk? Is it hip hop?” I think the reason why it’s making an impact on
the market outside of Japan is that it can’t be confined to a single
genre, and when it comes to creating a new scene, ‘Samurai Guitarist’ is
an important keyword for me. Like, I fight with my guitar, instead of
with a sword.”*Because this form of "I" is really cheeky/impolite in Japanese.

name of his first band. He got it on his 20th birthday when the band had broken up.

To the Tattoo Tribal Magazin he said:
“I
got the band’s name because I wanted to remember the motivation I
originally had to be a musician. I always wanted to be an artist that
could become worldwide, and that was my first band that I joined when I
came to Tokyo at 17... The future is basically an accumulation of the
past, but I think that it’s also the future that decides the past, so I
never want to forget my past. They say that ‘success is built on
failure’, and I do think it’s true that it’s only after you succeed that
all your failures start to have meaning. I doesn’t matter how, but if I
succeed, this band will become something really valuable."

凛 1: cold; frigid; bracing/2: dignified
悼 lament
赦 forgiveness
戒 admonition; commandment
侭 as one likes - (It can go with the 我 on his right arm (as many of his tattoos actually are pairs) to be read as 我侭 (egoism)
在 exist
然 so; like that; in that way, natural
在然 together can be translated as "be yourself"
Some more interesting: the first and last together 凛然 can read as "awe-inspiring"

「Born from love, and forever shall it lie beside you.」「Always share the fruits of happiness with all whom may ever cross your path.」

His tattoo for Lovelie.
Miyavi said about it:
"The tattoo I love the most is the new one I got for my daughter because
of two reasons. The tattoo says “love me” because I picked a name for
my daughter out of love and also I hope my daughter will always be loved
by people. I hope fans will also be able to feel the love. I wish
happiness for everyone." (Interview with Sohu Entertainment, 12/2009)

A Buddha phrase, in originally 「天上天下唯我独尊」, but he changed ‘我’ into
‘雅’, his Kanji. It can be translated as “I am the one and only. In
heaven and on earth.”
It was his first tattoo, he got it with 19. To the magazin Tattoo Tribal he said:
“It
was a period where I was feeling really disheartened, and really
struggling with the gap between what I wanted to do and what I was
actually doing, and I thought about leaving the band and dying. So I
went by myself to Okinawa to try to go back to the drawing board and
decide whether I really wanted to die or not. It was on that trip to
Okinawa that I got my first tattoo: “天上天下唯雅独尊”. (“I am my own Lord
throughout heaven and earth”) . It’s taken from a saying by Siddhartha,
and “唯雅” is actually written “唯我”, but I changed it for my own name so
it would mean “There is no one above or below me.” To show that I have
to face myself head on. I got the tattoo to show my resolve not to stop
playing music, and not to let myself be beaten by anyone, even my
weaker self.” (He said the same in the FREEWORLD Interview, what we
translated in German before.)

one of the many japanese "I", Frequently used by men. It can be seen
as rude depending on the context. Establishes a sense of masculinity.
Emphasizes one's own status when used with peers and with those who are
younger or who have less status. Among close friends or family, its use
is a sign of familiarity rather than of masculinity or of superiority.
It was used by both genders until the late Edo period and still is in
some dialects.

left arm:「4 」
In japanese you read the 4 as "shi", "shi" can also stand for the kanji 死 (dead).
Miyavi himself said about it to the Tattoo Tribal Magazine:
"I
also have a few numbers tattooed on me. The first ones I got done were 4
and 9. I got them because those have always been unlucky numbers for
me. When I was a teenager one of my very dear friends passed away, and I
got them because to remind myself to accept everything that happens
even the things like death and disasters."

Here are 2 meaningful opportunities:
In Japanese the 9 read like [ku], the same reading like the kanji 苦 (suffering) or: it could stand for Miyavi's birth month, the september.
Miyavi himself said about it to the Tattoo Tribal Magazine:
"I
also have a few numbers tattooed on me. The first ones I got done were 4
and 9. I got them because those have always been unlucky numbers for
me. When I was a teenager one of my very dear friends passed away, and I
got them because to remind myself to accept everything that happens
even the things like death and disasters."

left arm:Two arm-orbiting beams. Details not known. As a joke circulated among the fans the rumor that he "do it, to live out his masochistic vein" ;)___________________________________________________________________________

Meaning of this 2 Kanjis:
弾 *Dan, tama- Bullet, shot, shell
*hazu(mu) - bounce back, be excited or generous
*hi(ku) - playing a string instrument (in his case a guitar)斬 - "zan" or "ki(ru)" - means "to cut to kill" or "to slay"
There are different readings of the kanji, it's not known which reading he mean, so we have all us known readings given. But with another kanji they find a meaning, so simply scroll down ;)

Symbolism from the Siddham Scripture.
The Siddham scripture is usually dominated only by initiates priests
and it's part of the Indian Brahmi script. The Sanskrit word is
transcribed in Japanese with "shittan" (Japanese 悉 昙) and literally
means perfection. The Siddham scripture is a precursor of the
Devanagari. Siddham is now used only by the Japanese Shingon Buddhists
and is no longer in use in the origin country India. In Japan you can
find them in form of Gorintō ("Stupa of Five Rings") often on gravestones.

Also this kanji complemented well again with the others, along
with 奏 (right arm), it can be read as "Playing a sound / play an
instrument." The right arm is the one that also slaps on the guitar ;)
When
you connect all the newer tattoos, (刀 / 弾 + 斩 / 音 / 奏) you might can
say, "the samurai, who leads his sound/music like a sword and so
'fighting' with it" (something like that once was said in an interview,
remember his words in the tattoo tribal magazine above)._____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________

BACK:

back : The Heart Sutra:

「観
自在菩薩行深般若
波羅蜜多時、照見五蘊皆空、度一切苦厄。舎利子。色不異空、空不異色、色即是空、空即是色。受・想・行・識亦復如是。舎利子。是諸法空相、不生不滅、不垢
不浄、不増不減。是故空中、無色、無受・想・行・識、無眼・耳・鼻・舌・身・意、無色・声・香・味・触・法。無眼界、乃至、無意識界。無無明、亦無無明
尽、乃至、無老死、亦無老死尽。無苦・集・滅・道。無智亦無得。以無所得故、菩提薩埵、依般若波羅蜜多故、心無罣礙、無罣礙故、無有恐怖、遠離一切顛倒夢
想、究竟涅槃。三世諸仏、依般若波羅蜜多故、得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。故知、般若波羅蜜多、是大神呪、是大明呪、是無上呪、是無等等呪、能除一切苦、真実不
虚。故説、般若波羅蜜多呪。即説呪曰、羯諦羯諦波羅羯諦波羅僧羯諦菩提薩婆訶。般若心経」The Heart Sutra, in its Japanese form (the Hannya Shingyo), is often
chanted by Zen groups before and/or after a meditation sitting. It’s
ideal for this purpose because its concise length (less than 300
syllables) makes it easy to memorize.

English Translation:
“Avalokiteshvara,
the Bodhisattva of Compassion, meditating deeply on Perfection of
Wisdom, saw clearly that the five aspects of human existence are empty,
and so released himself from suffering. Answering the monk Sariputra, he
said this:
Body is nothing more than emptiness, emptiness is nothing more than body.
The body is exactly empty, and emptiness is exactly body.
The
other four aspects of human existence — feeling, thought, will, and
consciousness — are likewise nothing more than emptiness, and emptiness
nothing more than they.
All things are empty:
Nothing is born, nothing dies, nothing is pure, nothing is stained, nothing increases and nothing decreases.
So, in emptiness, there is no body, no feeling, no thought, no will, no consciousness.
There are no eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind.
There is no seeing, no hearing, no smelling, no tasting, no touching, no imagining.
There is nothing seen, nor heard, nor smelled, nor tasted, nor touched, nor imagined.
There is no ignorance, and no end to ignorance.
There is no old age and death, and no end to old age and death.
There is no suffering, no cause of suffering, no end to suffering, no path to follow.
There is no attainment of wisdom, and no wisdom to attain.
The Bodhisattvas rely on the Perfection of Wisdom, and so with no delusions, they feel no fear, and have Nirvana here and now.
All the Buddhas, past, present, and future, rely on the Perfection of Wisdom, and live in full enlightenment.
The Perfection of Wisdom is the greatest mantra.
It is the clearest mantra, the highest mantra, the mantra that removes all suffering.
This is truth that cannot be doubted.
Say it so:
Gaté,
gaté,
paragaté,
parasamgaté.
Bodhi!
Svaha!”
[The Last sentence means “Gone, gone, gone over, gone fully over, Awakened! So be it!”]

He said about it:
"finishin the tat on my back now. w/
appreciation to my dad n ancestors. g job dude. [note: he shared the
photo with his tattoo artist.] hi my name is MIYAVI LEE-ISHIHARA. I used
to hate my dad. but since I became a dad of 2 girls, I was kinda able
to start understanding him. so I put my Korean name on my back.”
(Miyavi via Twitter, August 2012)